DataSpace4DigitalProductPassport (DS4DPP)

With the introduction of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) as part of the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), companies are faced with the challenge of providing comprehensive product information throughout the entire product lifecycle. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular are affected by the complexity of technical, organizational, and regulatory requirements.

The DataSpace4DigitalProductPassport (DS4DPP) project addresses these challenges by developing a scalable technical solution for the semi-automated creation, identification, and management of digital product passports. At the core of the approach is the combination of Asset Administration Shells (AAS) and Data Spaces as standard infrastructure technology for the secure control of access, use, storage, and deletion of DPP data. The project results will be prototypically implemented and demonstrated using a use case from the field of consumer electronics—the “laptop.”

The challenge

Implementing the digital product passport requires the semi-automated creation of DPP instances for individual product objects, the unique identification of these instances, and the management of sensitive product data along the value chain.

Key challenges include the integration of heterogeneous data sources, the mapping of regulatory requirements to machine-readable access and deletion policies, and the lack of transparency regarding the benefits and economic potential of the DPP for various stakeholders, such as manufacturers, consumers, and refurbishers.

Our services

• Generation of data space policies for access and usage control as well as for the storage and deletion of DPP data at the end of the product's life
• Development of a role model (manufacturer, consumer, refurbisher, etc.) with corresponding access policies for the data in the DPP
• Development of value streams, highlighting data requirements, and identifying the economic potential of the DPP using the example of a laptop product

The result

The central result of the project is a physical demonstrator for the “laptop” use case. This shows the semi-automated creation of an instantiated digital product passport, which can be accessed via a QR code, and the role-dependent display of relevant information in a digital dashboard.

In addition, a use case database for DPP applications in the circular economy and a practice-oriented guide are being created to support SMEs in particular in the introduction of the digital product passport. The concepts developed are transferable to other product groups and fields of application and form a basis for future applications in industry.

The partners

• Fraunhofer IOSB
• Fraunhofer ISST
• Fraunhofer IIS
• Associated industry partner: Neoception GmbH